Dozens attend march at SFU

Russ O'Reilly

Staff Writer

roreilly@altoonamirror.com

James Brown of Hollidaysburg was among those who braved cold temperatures and snow
Friday to walk in the March for Life at Saint Francis. Brown started on the march from the Immaculate Conception Chapel.

LORETTO — There was limited media coverage beyond local news cameras at Saint Francis University for its anti-abortion march on a blustery, frigid Friday morning.

The few dozen people marching around the campus mall was a far cry from the masses of people at the national March for Life in Washington, D.C.

“We aren’t always called to do large things. I think we are called to do little things with great love and passion,” Saint Francis campus minister Paul Girardi said, borrowing words from St. Therese of Lisieux.

“Our march here may be small, but it gives everybody the chance to have voices heard. The most fundamental right is our life, and it’s taken away from our innocents,” he said.

In 2014, an estimated 926,200 abortions were performed in the United States, or 12 percent fewer than in 2011, according to a recent report by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. The the 2014 abortion rate was 14.6 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44.

The thermometer showed 28 degrees as the university held its fourth annual March on the Mountain.

Four years ago, a bus trip from Saint Francis to the march in Washington, D.C., was canceled because of weather, but faculty and students wanted to march here, so the March on the Mountain started with 35 people that year.

Last year, the march attracted 200 people, but the snow on Friday may have kept many at home.

Bishop Carroll High School student Alyssa Marinazzi, 17, and her friends locked arms as they walked in the weather.

“I think all the Catholic schools are here. It’s cold. It’s a sacrifice. But we are here to show it’s never worth ending a life.”